Gibs N Glory is what happens when a physics puzzler meets the zombie fad, somewhere in the middle of Trenches. From the developer of Trenches and Stenches, this game has players controlling a zombie brute who’s trying to fend off the oncoming World War I soldiers that wish to destroy him. How does he defend himself? By tossing other, smaller zombies at his foes. Stars can be earned for good performance, which can unlock new zombie types and new zombie brute outfits.

This seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice, there are definite issues. The controls are problematic. First, instead of using the pull-back method that Angry Birds uses, players must slide forward to shoot their angle. Want to know why Angry Birds is a massive success? Part of it is that they have impeccable controls on touch screens, and pulling back works well because it doesn’t obscure the player’s angle. When pulling forward to aim, it obscures the angle that the shot will fire at, making it harder to aim. It’s just too difficult to deal with. Setting power also seems very finicky, because of a seeming velocity that’s needed to set power, and then requires more ‘force’ to adjust it. No shame in aping Angry Birds’ mechanics, folks.

The game feels homogenous throughout. The goals are the same in each level, and times for the different stars may be identical to each one as well. The only thing that’s different is the terrain in each one, and there’s not much variety in that as it is. There is a level editor that’s easy to use, with the ability to share and download custom levels. However, it shows just how basic the game really is, with the few terrain types, and that each level follows from the same basic starting place.

Gibs N Glory just feels unfinished. In-app purchases don’t work, and there’s just this feeling throughout the game with all the things that feel off like this is a game that’s still in the works on the way to being fun, not a finished game. I think there’s an interesting idea here, but it’s just not executed at all. I’d love to see the game reworked to be something that is fantastic to play.

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